It is not unusual for a business telephone customer to be associated with multiple telephone lines connected to one or more telephone station sets. In this way, the business customer may access any one of the telephone lines from any one of the telephone sets to originate or answer a call. In certain instances, the customer may find it desirable to associate various ones of the telephone lines with selected ones of the telephone sets. The business customer may also find it desirable to have various telephone services/features assigned to selected ones of the telephone lines, in which such services/features are provided by an associated telecommunications system, e.g., an electronic key telephone system that interfaces the customer's telephone lines with a local exchange carrier. Such services/features include, for example, call forwarding, call waiting, call transfer, distinctive ringing, etc. Moreover, the telephone stations sets may be equipped with key buttons that may be used to invoke such features as privacy, speed calling, call hold, etc., in which such latter features are typically provided by a particular type of telephone system, e.g., an electronic key telephone system, that interfaces the telephone stations sets with the aforementioned telephone lines. Each such telephone station set may include a number, e.g., one, six, ten, thirty, etc., of station set buttons (key buttons), in which the buttons may be associated with respective telephone lines (i.e., telephone numbers) or services/features.
A customer may, from time to time, want to add or remove telephone lines associated with various telephone sets. In addition, a customer may want to change directory numbers associated with various ones of the telephone sets and to add, delete or rearrange various features associated with respective buttons of a telephone station set. So-called electronic key telephone management systems are currently available which enable customers to control and implement changes to customer electronic key telephone systems served by a telephone switching system. That is, the business customer may interact with the management system to assign (or cancel) a particular telephone feature to a telephone station set button selected by the customer. What this means is that the feature (function) that is associated with a particular telephone station button is selected by the customer and not by the manufacturer of the station set. In addition, the customer typically affixes a paper label identifying the feature at or near the button (or associated lamp), as is well-known.
A sheet of such button identification (or designation) labels is usually printed for an electronic key telephone station set once the features/functions associated with the buttons (keys) and lamps have been programmed into the station set or associated electronic key system. In most instances the printing of labels involves the use of manufactured die-cut paper having a layout of labels customized for a particular station set. The business customer writes or prints the button designations at the appropriate label locations on the die-cut paper stock and then tears the paper along die cut perforations to break out each label so that it may be affixed to a telephone station set.
I have recognized that the size of the paper stock and locations of the perforations defining the layout of labels varies between the manufacturers of telephone station sets and also varies between different models of telephone station sets of the same manufacturer. Also, the business customer employs various printing devices with different methods to feed and align the paper stock relative to the printed information. As such, it is expensive to store different paper stock for different telephone station sets and it is also expensive to manually "fill in" labels printed on paper stock to identify the functions of the buttons and lamps of a respective telephone station set.